On top of losing everything in Colorado’s Marshall Fire in the final days of 2021, a family in Superior now has to fight with the city over living on their property in two RVs. The Kupfner family has lived in Old Town Superior for generations dating back to the area’s mining days.
They had lived with their dogs in a hotel for weeks after the fire burned down their home, but knew it wouldn’t be a long-term solution. So the family bought two fifth wheel trailers which they brought to their property. Elizabeth Kupfner and her roommate live in one. Her mother and father live in the other.
Last Sunday, the family received three violations for parking their RVs in an unpermitted spot. They were told they would have seven days to move them elsewhere. The deadline to move was later extended while the city discussed the issue.
Watch the video to see the complete story as reported by Denver’s NBC TV affiliate.
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To be living in “The Land of the Free”… it seems every time you turn around the government is trying to tell you what you can or cannot do, even on your own property… and then they tax you on top of everything else.
Oh, I am sure they are still paying property taxes on a home that no longer exists. AND THEN not being able to live there? …… Yep, zoning laws are great, … until the city/county council decides they want to do something else.
Line up on assessment challege day, ALL OF YOU, and with appraisals in hand, show what the vacant lots value is, and reduce the assessment. These tyrants will fight you, when they see the incredible property/school tax reduced revenue, so file a class action lawsuit, and bring them to their knees.
Within weeks, this nonsense will correct itself.
The city is most likely trying to avoid problems with run down RV’s filling the city. In light of the major fire an exception needs to be made while the family makes plans to rebuild their home. With the lack of labor due to COVID it may take some time to rebuild.
My guess and I’m only guessing is that there is a Kathy in a local position high enough in status that lives in the same area that has the money to rebuild or was not effected by the fire
You got it. But on the other side is the “Give an inch and they will take a mile.” What needs to be done is the town can give a temporary excemption in light of the fire as long as a “good faith effort” is made and the parameters of “good faith” are written out in advance and agreed to by all parties. Probably need an ordinance to be passed by the town council.
Be sure to re-elect those same people to the commission next Election Day. The elite are the ones who run for elected positions because of the power over other people.
I’m sure we are not getting the whole story here. I hope the city council can cut them some slack. Perhaps the council should imagine themselves in that situation. Shouldn’t the city itself be on the hook to some degree here? At least in terms of clean up. The ruins look a lot worse than the travel trailers. With property owners on-site, I would imagine a faster return to restoration than being left abandoned.
I think the word you’re looking for is empathy
I thought the same thing. They have to move the very new looking trailers but there are burned out cars all over the place????
How about this, dont allow anything of the like that will exacerbate the situation way longer than it would be remedied. Want to bet thats what happens. Where is their useless governor in this? Enough of these local government tyrants, this was truely a tragedy of epic proportion. Governor should step in and slap these local governments back, and let these people move forward.
From an engineer friend in Colorado who is close to the problem. Many of the municipalities would like to allow it on an individually permitted basis, but the major issue the municipalities face involve utilities. In many areas there are insufficient functioning power, water and sanitary utilities available. A lot of areas have been using plastic water mains, and plastic sanitary and storm drainage piping which have either been compromised or have been obstructed with ash and silt. This all brings up the question of what do you do to empty your tanks if the sanitary system cannot handle it? Just because your neighborhood appears to be fine, there may be issues further down the line that will cause problems.
Improvise. In the case of sanitary, order the local treatment plants to allow caddy dumping. These people were burned out of their lives, stop this bureaucratic nonsense. If they are actively in the process of reconstruction, allow it. If they are pulling a cousin Eddy, stop them.